Located at 6 North Laurel Street, to the west of downtown Richmond, Virginia, the Mosque was built in 1926 by the Shriners as their Acca Temple Shrine and contained the most elaborate and the largest theater ever built in Richmond with approximately 4,600 seats and the largest proscenium arch stage on the East Coast.
It was designed in 1925 by Marcellus Wright, Sr. in association with Charles M. Robinson
and Charles Custer Robinson. Though it opened in October of 1927
it was officially dedicated on January 9, 1928 and completed at a cost
of $1.65 million.

The building is a lavish replica of a Moslem Temple. Twin minarets and a
tall arch mark the entrance while corners have small domes. Glazed terra
cotta ornament is used throughout. 75,000 square feet of gold leaf went into the dome alone, and another 35,000 square feet of aluminum leaf was used.

The Auditorium decorations include Saracenic decorations and five
paintings bordering the proscenium arch of the stage. Ornamental tile
used in the interior was imported from Spain, Italy and Tunis, along
with lush carpets, silken curtains and paintings. Besides the auditorium
the building contains 24,300 square feet of office space, an 18,000
square foot ballroom and a 20 by 70 foot swimming pool. Some of
America’s greatest entertainers have appeared on its stage.

Through the 1930s the Mosque Theater played host to films, concerts and a plethora of entertainers and theatrical productions which included the Ziegfield Follies, Ethel Barrymore, Maude Adams, George Gershwin and Sergei Rachmaninoff, to name but a few. In 1935 the ACCA temple was financially strapped and forfeited the mortgage on the Mosque to the New York Life Insurance Co. In 1940 it
was purchased by the city of Richmond for $200,000.00, $375,000 less than New York Life’s asking price in 1939.

In 1941 the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra performed there with a new young
vocalist, Frank Sinatra. When Frank Sinatra joined the Tommy Dorsey
Orchestra in 1940, he was just another struggling singer, trying to
strike fame and fortune. Minor success had led him to trumpeter Harry
James’ new band, but in 1940 he was lured away to the Dorsey’s
Orchestra. This was his big break. Big band music was traditionally
listened to by an older crowd, but a younger and more energetic audience
was attracted to Sinatra’s youthful persona and these Bobbysoxers made
Sinatra a star.1

The War Department activated the Anti-Aircraft Command in March of 1942 during World War II and formally separated the Antiaircraft Artillery from the Coast Artillery. Under the command of General Green the Mosque in Richmond served as the headquarters for the Anti-Aircraft Command from April of 1942 until October of 1944.2

In May of 1953 Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five performed at the Mosque. Louis has been called “the Father of Rhythm & Blues” and “the Grandfather of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The swinging shuffle rhythms played by singer/saxophonist Jordan and his Tympany Five got called “jump blues” or “jumpin’ jive,” and it served as a forerunner of rhythm & blues and rock and roll. It has been plausibly argued that “Saturday Night Fish Fry,”
(Listen) released in 1949, is worthy of consideration as the first rock and roll record, containing many of the genre’s key ingredients: a distorted electric guitar, an early use of the word rocking, party-themed lyrics, and danceable,
up-tempo
music.3

ad in Richmond Times-Dispatch - May 16, 1955

On May 16, 1955 Elvis, Scotty, and Bill made their first
appearance at the Mosque with the Hank Snow Jamboree. Martha
Carson was the headliner and the show also featured Slim Whitman, the
Davis Sisters,
Onie Wheeler
and Jimmie Rodgers Snow. All of the
shows in Richmond were apparently sponsored by Bill Railey of Railey's
Appliance Center.

Having performed in acts with her sisters and then her since divorced
husband, Martha recorded her first solo session for Capitol in 1951 with
Chet Atkins, Bill Carlisle, and her sisters Jean and Berthy as musicians.
The song "Satisfied," one of the first million selling gospel songs sung
by a woman would noted by the Smithsonian Institute for its popularity
and number of album sales. In 1952 Martha would be asked to perform on
the Grand Ole Opry. In late 1954 and 1955 she shared many dates touring
the south with Elvis, Scotty and Bill. Elvis "asked
me to show him the move I did at the close of my show," says Martha,
"I would go down on one knee and hold the mic stand at an angle. He
went on to do that pose a lot on his shows," Martha recalled.4

Onie Wheeler recorded traditional country,
bluegrass, and rockabilly (for Sun) in a career that stretched from a
small radio show in Missouri all the way to the Grand Ole Opry. After
reaching Nashville, Onie recorded with Columbia in 1953. By the
mid-'50s, his repertoire began to lean toward rockabilly; he signed to
Sun Records in 1957. He later recorded for Epic, Starday,
United Artists, and Musicor during the '60s. Onie would later collapse and die
during a performance in May of 1984 playing at the Opry with Jimmie
Rodgers Snow.5

Of the May 16th performance,
Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen in Elvis Day by Day wrote,
RCA field representative Brad McCuen (responsible for east Tennessee,
Virginia, and the Carolinas) and country--and--western promotion manager
Chick Crumpacker are in the audience to check out some of their acts.
Crumpacker remembers being bowled over. "What really got the
listeners was his energy and the way he sang the songs. The effect was
galvanic." Subsequently Crumpacker makes a point of taking all of
Elvis' records back to New York to give to his boss, Steve Sholes, who,
unbeknownst to him, is already well aware of the new act.

Backstage at the Mosque with fan Jan Edwards - May 16,
1955Photo courtesy
"Candids of the Kin" by Jim Curtin

A subsequent article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch the following
September announcing Elvis' next appearance in Richmond at the WRVA
Theater read, Presley was here with Hank Snow in May and was given the greatest
ovation ever accorded a hillbilly performer here.

The
Day by Day book lists them performing again at the Mosque in Richmond
with the Hank Snow Jamboree for the Philip Morris Employees Night on
November 29, 1955. However, no review or advertisement in the
Times-Dispatch found at this time confirmed that. The show though,
and one the following week in Louisville on December 8, was mentioned as
the forerunner of Philip Morris Country Western tour announced in
Billboard magazine, a year to the day after Elvis' Louisville
appearance. An advertisement
for their next public appearance at the Mosque on February 5, 1956
refers back only to the September appearance at the WRVA
Theater.

Feb.
5, 1956 ad in Richmond Times-Dispatch

Hillbilly Shows Here At Mosque - Richmond hillbilly and Western-music fans have had a hand in boosting a
number of young entertainers in their field up that ladder of success.
Latest of the lot is Elvis Presley, the youngster who will head the
shows at the Mosque at 2:30 and 8:30 P.M. today. Elvis took the
city's folk-music addicts by storm last September. Since then he has met
with similar applause wherever he has whammed his guitar to accompany
himself in such numbers as "Blue Moon of Kentucky,"
"Mystery Train," and other record releases. He is backed by
his own outfit, called the Blue Mooners, as a tribute to the first song
which brought him to public attention. Others on the bill today
will be The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle, who got their start at
local stations WRNL and WRVA; the Louvin Brothers, a pair of former
mail clerks who turned their music making hobby into a career; Justin
Tubb, son of famed Ernest Tubb; Rod Brasfield, Benny Martin and others.

By the time of this appearance at the Mosque on February
5th, Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ had appeared on National Television on The
Dorsey Brothers' StageShow twice, most recently the night before on
February 4th. They are now the headliner of the tour. This was the beginning of a broken three-week tour.
Dates would include shows in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia,
Waycross, Georgia
and Florida surrounding their next two television appearances in New York on
Saturday nights.

According to Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen in Elvis Day by Day,After witnessing both of Elvis' television performances and
the show in Richmond, William Morris agent Harry Kalcheim writes the
Colonel to suggest that on television it would be better if Elvis'
singing stood out more from the contributions of the other musicians.
"As a matter of suggestion in Elvis' act," he writes in
reference to the Richmond package show, "he should avoid too much
clowning as it detracts from his singing. . . . After sitting through
two hours of singing and clowning, when the star of the show, Elvis
Presley, comes on, they really want to hear Elvis go to town instead of
the clowning, which gets a little repetitious even though some of it is
funny. Was pleasantly amazed at the reaction. One has to see
this to understand and appreciate what he does to an audience.

On March 22, 1956 the band performed at the Mosque
again. This time the ad mistakenly referred to Scotty, Bill and DJ
as the "The Blue Mooners" instead of "The Blue Moon
Boys" as did the write-up in February. They had by now appeared on the Dorsey Brothers
television show five times and were weeks away from making an appearance
on the Milton Berle show from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS
Hancock. They had one commitment on the Dorsey show left. The
last time on the show they had piqued the interest of New York
photographer Al Wertheimer who had been hired by Ann Fulchino of RCA to
shoot some promotional photos. Al would later arrange to meet
up with Elvis in Richmond for his next (and final) appearance at the Mosque on
June 30, 1956 and follow him from there to New York and back to Memphis
where he would take several thousand photographs, many of which are now
world famous.

According to Al,
The cab drove up Main St., drifting through the still heat until it
landed at the rear of the Mosque Theatre. I had expected Elvis to
march directly up the backstage ramp, it was only twenty minutes to
showtime, but instead, he laid back and held court with a the few young
ladies who had gathered, all primly dressed in their Sunday best and
ready with their Brownie cameras. For someone who was moving up pretty
fast he never seemed to be in a rush. He always had time for the
fans.6

Backstage, musicians unpacked their instruments, reporters milled around
looking for an opportunity, and young wives and mothers sat against the
wall drinking Pepsi and smoking cigarettes. On stage, under the beam of
spotlights, a small brass band rehearsed. The stage was a shallow
blond floor separated from the audience by a think fading red curtain.
Elvis wandered around the stage, feeling its size like builder
inspecting a piece of land. When he finished his survey he nodded
to his musicians in the wings and proceeded toward what could be called
the green room.6

The act onstage was a square dance troupe. Colonel Parker would hire
acts out of various country and western circuits or variety shows and
package them with Elvis when he toured the South. They got little
or no billing. On this night the colonel hired Doris and Lee
Strom, a dancing team; the Flaim Brothers, musical comedians; and Phil
Marquin, a magician.6

Elvis was crouched in the wings watching the procession of acts. After
the magician went through his tricks, the curtain closed, the applause
fell away and quickly the shouts of 'Where's Elvis?" became a chorus.
The comedians went into their routine while behind the curtain Scotty,
DJ and Bill set up their instruments. The lights dimmed. A spotlight popped on, and Elvis rushed out onto the
stage, propelled. The was an explosion, screaming, screeching,
whistling, girls jumping, surging towards the stage.6

After the first show was over, somebody gave him a Pepsi, and as soon
as he joined the present, the momentum of his nervous energy sent him
back to center stage where he sat down and started playing with the
drums. A reporter in bowtie and glasses pulled up a chair and asked
questions like he was covering a fire and Elvis was the fire chief. As
the reporter filled in the answers to his prepared questions, Elvis
fiddled with the drumsticks, tapping them on his hands, setting them
down, them picking them up and bumping them against his chin.6

Elvis at the drums - June 30, 1956 Photo courtesy
FECC/denon3910

Before the screaming started Elvis Aron Presley, 21, ambled over to the
drum set in the center of the Mosque stage. His white, knit tie
was yanked loose and his shirt was ringing wet. The first show was over.
He had finished an interview with the London Mirror and had a couple of
hours to kill before the next show. Presley, a Tupelo, Miss. boy
who drove a pickup truck for an electric company until 1954, is
America's newest adolescent sensation, a sort of Rock 'n' Roll Caruso.
To his followers, he's a "living doll." To his critics he's "vulgar" and
"indecent." To the Jukebox merchants he's the hottest rage since
Frankie Boy (Sinatra), vintage 1943.7

At the drums the black sapphires and diamond studded horseshoe rings
glittered as he tapped gently at the snare, careful not to upset the two
Cokes on the tom tom. "I can't play," he drawled. "I learned this
when I was in the ROTC in a Memphis High School."7

Elvis now owns a ranch style home on Audubon Dr. in Memphis. He also
owns a motorcycle and four Cadillacs -- pink, blue, yellow and white.
The white one goes 115 mph. Why so many? "I might go broke. They've got
a very high resale value know."7

Elvis and young fan - June 30, 1956 Photo courtesy
FECC/Desert Storm

Offstage, Elvis is quiet likable and a little aloof conversationally.
If he is awed by his catapult to fame, it is well insulated with
nonchalance. He is careful to say "sir." on several occasions he
added, "I don't mean to be smart." An hour and a half later he
publicly dedicated a song to the New York Press, "You Ain't Nothing but
a Hound Dog" and added, "I've got pretty far the way I taked away the
stage steps so am and no one is gonna change me!"7

A few days ago he bit the finger of a woman reporter in Charleston,
S.C. "I was sitting in my car and she stuck her hand in and grabbed my
coat and said 'I got a deadline! I got a deadline!' so I bit her finger.
I was just being friendly, but she tried to make a big deal."7

The curtain went up on the empty Mosque and Elvis jumped into the
orchestra pit to the piano. He played a little boogie and
Dragner's dum de-dum dum. The young ushers and two girls rushed to
the front row. "Hit, ladies," he said with a grin. "Hi,
man." The ushers told him they had he wouldn't get mobbed. "It
isn't so bad. I enjoy it." Pointing to the ceiling, he said, "They can
jump to the lights if they want to, That's okay with me."7

Elvis' favorite pastime is watching movies. He also likes pool shooting,
swimming and motorcycle riding. "I hate to sound like I'm
bragging, but I don't have much time." He talked to the ushers for 10
minutes. They learned Elvis never has to rehearse. The crowd began
to wander in and Elvis climbed back onto the stage and the curtain came
down again.7

fooling around with an accordionPhotos courtesy "Candids of the King" by Jim Curtin
and Ger Rijff''s "Long Lonely Highway"

He fooled around unprofessionally with an accordion, obliged half a
dozen photographers and told two TV movie cameramen they couldn't shoot
because his contract said "no movement." He playfully chased an
attractive young blonde across the stage into the wings, and ignored his
frantic fans who were rattling the big steel doors outside. Soon
he was back at the drums. An orbit of musicians, girls and well
wishers spun around him.7

Elvis back at the drums in between shows at the Mosque - June 30, 1956Photo courtesy Ger Rijff''s "Long Lonely Highway"

He isn't married and has no steady girl. The one gloomy thing
bothering Elvis is the army. He hasn't heard one word from his
Memphis draft board yet, but figures it will come all too soon.
Sipping his fifth or sixth Coke, said, "I don't eat before a show.
It makes you sweat." He admitted he was a fingernail biter and he still
gets a little nervous before going on.7

The show started and Elvis headed for the dressing room. It took
him about five minutes to get his hair combed just right. He
didn't do anything to his sideburns.7

DJ, Elvis and Bill onstage at the Mosque - June 30, 1956Photo courtesy
"Elvis Word for Word" by Jerry Osborne

Patrons over 21 might have felt as if they were suddenly rip Van Winkled
into senility upon entering the almost packed Mosque Saturday. It
looked like a high school pep rally. Before Elvis went on,
an assortment of singers, dancers and comedians tried to soothe and
amuse the impatient. A fist fight broke out and someone called the
police. Then the lights dimmed a reddish-blue and Elvis was in
the spotlight.7

He staggered, stalked and
wiggled his fingers in voodoo fashion. His hair was in his eyes. His
face twisted in agony. He stopped chewing his chewing gum.
Still, clinging to the mike, he sprawled almost prone as amateur girl
photographers rushed into the orchestra pit. The flashbulbs
exploded like a swarm of monstrous fireflies.7

When it was all over, three teen-age girls, obviously weakened
emotionally, stood by a side door. They babbled happily. Big
tears streamed down their cheeks.7

After the show they left for New York by train and then back to Memphis
for a performance at Russwood Park on the
4th of July. After the Memphis performance Al Wertheimer would only see
Elvis again one more time, when he was in the Army and sailed for
Germany from Brooklyn, New York in 1958. When asked recently Al said, all
of the Elvis photographs were made with two black Nikon S-2, split range
finder cameras - one of which had a 35mm f2.0 Nikor lens and the other
had a 105mm f2.8 lens. All the lenses were black. My theory was after
seeing a photograph of David Douglas Duncan in Life Magazine, a very
well known war photographer who did work in Korea, with black Nikons, I
said to myself if I get those same type of cameras not only will I
become invisible, I may become as good as Duncan.

As far as the film is concerned most of the shooting, probably 70%,
was done with Kodak Tri-X. Another 15% was done with
Ilford high speed
probably the equivalent of Tri-X and there were also some images in
color with Anscochrome and Kodachrome. That's just about it. The rest of
it required curiosity, patience and a little bit of luck, and of course
Elvis, who permitted closeness.

On January 1, 1959, about 1800 people met at The Mosque for a two-hour "Pilgrimage of Prayer" meeting sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Then, about 800 participants marched in the rain to the Capitol, where they passed a resolution urging appointment of a biracial commission to seek a solution to Virginia's school integration crisis. The resolution requested "a change of heart and change of policy by the state of Virginia." Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker of Petersburg said the protesters were "just as concerned about 13,000 white children being locked out of school as they are about segregated schools."8

In July of 1963 the Mosque was condemned because of electrical problems, prompting electrical renovations and in 1966 the first major renovation began with a five-year project that cost $1.5 million. In July of 1968 The Who performed and Pete Townshend smashed his custom colored Fender Jazzmaster guitar during the performance. The following month Jimi Hendrix and the Experience played two shows. 1968 also saw an appearance by the Supremes and 1969 saw James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone.

Late in his career, jazz great Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington composed
three "Sacred Concerts," longer works made up of vocal and instrumental
pieces stemming from a religious theme. First performed in 1965, during
the 1968 series, Ellington performed in Richmond at the Mosque on
November 8, accompanied by the choir of the Fifth Street Baptist Church.9

Ellington merged components of jazz, blues, gospel, classical music, and
choral expression in the arrangements, which were performed by his jazz
orchestra and a full chorus. Setting Christian ideals to a varied score
allowed Ellington's devout beliefs to come to the fore in both the music
and in the subsequent publicity, as he openly discussed his earnest
intentions with a somewhat skeptical press. It is perhaps unsurprising
that in the tumultuous year of 1968 some critics found Ellington's
religious direction to be either disingenuous or a bald advertisement
for organized religion. But Ellington insisted otherwise: "This music
is the most important thing I’ve ever done or am ever likely to do. This
is personal, not career. Now I can say out loud to all the world what
I've been saying to myself for years on my knees."9

Bruce at The Mosque in Richmond on January 25, 1974courtesy Brucebase.org

In the early ‘70s Bruce Springsteen performed
several times at the Mosque. An audience recording captured his 45 minute opening act on February 14, 1973 with his pre David Sancious lineup of the E Street
Band and contains what is believed to be the earliest live performance of his staple “Rosalita”, which he performed in an encore.
The following year after a performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts a critic dubbed him “the future of “Rock ‘n Roll.”

Franks Sinatra's final performance - Feb. 25, 1995Photo courtesy web

Through the years the Mosque also saw the run of ballets like “The Nutcracker” to week long sold out openings of theatricals like “Cats” and “Les Miserable”. Then, on March 6, 1994, 43 years after his debut
there, Frank Sinatra,
at 78, returned and collapsed before
a packed house. Witnesses said he collapsed about two hours after the
concert began, was sitting on a stool, singing the last chorus of "My Way,"
when he suddenly stopped. "In a real clear voice, he said, 'Get me a chair, ' "then he fell to the floor. When they brought a wheelchair,
everybody clapped, because they didn't seem to need a stretcher."
Frank gave his final performance almost a year later, in
California.10 On July 31, 1994, the city of Richmond closed the building.

In October of 1995, after a $5.4 million restoration to its original splendor, the building
was reopened and renamed the “Landmark Theater.” With seating of 3667, and known for its excellent acoustics it ranks among the
Richmond’s most popular stages for theatrical and musical performances. The Landmark’s 1100 capacity ballroom may be rented
and is also host of numerous gala affairs.

The Lyric theater at 9th and Broad
Street in Richmond, Virginia was built in 1913 as a vaudeville theater.1 American Vaudeville, more so than any other mass
entertainment, grew out of the culture of incorporation that defined
American life after the Civil War. The development of vaudeville marked
the beginning of popular entertainment as big business, dependent on the
organizational efforts of a growing number of white-collar workers and
the increased leisure time, spending power, and changing tastes of an
urban middle class audience. Business savvy showmen utilized improved
transportation and communication technologies, creating and controlling
vast networks of theatre circuits standardizing, professionalizing, and
institutionalizing American popular entertainment.2

By 1900 there were 67 vaudeville houses in America. Between 1914 and
1922 there were 4,000 new theatres opened with Keith's and the Orpheum
Circuit, along with their subsidiaries controlling the largest
percentage of the market, and independents like Loews, Ackerman &
Harris, West Coast Theatres, Pantages, C.H. Miles, Gus Sun, M.R. Sheedy,
Wm. Fox and the Negro Circuits taking up the balance., and from 1930 to
1932 the number of operating theatres fell from 22,000 to 14,000.3

WRVA's Old Dominion Barn Dance, a country music variety show, began in
1946 with Mary Higdon "Sunshine Sue" Workman and her husband, John
Workman, as hosts and was held and broadcast on WRVA each Saturday night
at the Lyric Theater, two shows each Saturday. Every third Saturday of
the month, it was broadcast coast-to-coast on CBS. The show made
Sunshine Sue a star as she was anointed "Queen of the Hillbillies."
During its run it featured such performers as the Mother Maybelle and
The Carter Sisters, Grampa Jones and Ramona, The Saddle Sweethearts,
Crazy Joe Maphis, the Tobacco Tags, Quincy Snodgrass, Toby Stroud,
Buster Puffenbarger, Curly Collins, Benny Kissinger, Little Robert, Chet
Atkins, and Earl Scruggs.4

After working on WRNL Radio in Richmond from 1943 to 1946, Mother
Maybelle and the Carter Sisters moved to WRVA for 18 months. Chet Atkins
after leaving Nashville also performed there on the barn dance. They
joined up at WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee and eventually ended up at
KWTO, Springfield, Missouri where they were finally tapped by the Grand Ole Opry
(originally known as the WSM Barn Dance) back in Nashville.5 The Carters
would share many dates in the '50s with Elvis, Scotty and Bill and Chet
would eventually oversee sessions with the boys in Nashville after Elvis
signed with RCA.

On
September 18th, and 19th, 1955, Elvis, Scotty and Bill performed at the
WRVA (Lyric) Theater. A blurb in the advertisement section of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch announced:

Presley to Appear In 2 Shows HereElvis Presley, the 20-year-old headliner from the Louisiana Hayride,
will come to the WRVA Theater for performances at 2:30 and 8:30 P.M. on
Sunday, September 18, it was announced yesterday by Bill Railey under
whose auspices the show will be presented.
Presley was here with Hank Snow in May, and was given the greatest
ovation ever accorded a hillbilly performer here. Since then his
records have enjoyed great popularity with the local patrons and his
newest recording, "Mystery Train," is reported as a best seller in its
field.
Other headliners in the show will be Cowboy Copas and the Louvin
Brothers.

Cowboy Copas
was basically a honky tonk singer, and was very popular in the late
1940's, and made something of a comeback in the early 1960's before he
died in the tragic airplane crash that also took the lives of Randy
Hughes, Hawkshaw
Hawkins and
Patsy Cline. Randy was Patsy's manager, Copas' son in law and
the pilot of the plane.

At some point during the tenure of The Old Dominion Barn Dance the Lyric
Theater became known as the WRVA Theater. The Barn Dance ran until 1957
and in 1963 the theater was torn down.